DIXON PAC MEETING MINUTES 

Monday May 12, 2025

Present: Jenna Newman, Teg Bains, Colleen Reid, Nadine Eade, Matthew Ellis, Lauren, Simi Malhi, Charissa

Administration: Mike Murrary

Regrets: Colleen Orzen

Welcome

Call to Order:

• 6:32 pm called to order 
• Mike gave a Land Acknowledgement to thank the hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓ speaking peoples on whose land we live (over 16 different groups that travelled along our neighbourhood); this area is important to sturgeon waters and were stewarded by the indigenous people and for this we thank them 
• Review and approval of minutes from last meeting
  • Postponed for June meeting
• Approval of agenda
  • Teg moves and Nadine seconds

Chair Report

• Most of the executive team of the PAC will remain; Jenna will stay on as treasurer; Simi will stay on as secretary; Colleen will stay on as chair
• Nadine will step down as co-chair and a callout will be sent out for chair position
• Matthew has been nominated to be the D-PAC rep and will attend all their meetings
  • Jenna moves that we elect the following slate to our executive, Colleen as chair, Simi as secretary, Jenna as treasurer and Matthew as D-PAC
  • Nadine seconds and all in favour
  • Teg nominates himself as vice-chair, Colleen seconds and all in favour
  • Staff appreciation will take place Tuesday May 27, Charissa will assist with the sign-up sheet for volunteers.  There will be a budget of $600 and we will have access to the room the night before and will decorate and do a Costco run with flowers and snacks
  • The PAC email address/newsletter is reaching more people and no one has complained about receiving too many emails.  It has assisted with signing up for volunteers for hot lunch and movie nights.  The list will be getting updated list in September.
  • Scholarships will go out to Hugh Boyd and McMath.  Jenna has the cheques and will be sending them out at the end of the year.  The high schools have committees to select students who will receive these scholarships.
  • Craft fair will take place in the gym which will be available at the end of Nov.  Currently, there are two people willing to lead (Aniela & Lisa) and one person will phase out (Lisa Kanavaros).  There will be a request sent out for a third person to lead.  Girls’ night out in Steveston will take place Nov 20^th, so we won’t be picking that date.  At this moment, we are considering Nov 26^th/27^th.

Treasurer’s Report & Budget

• Jenna provides an update to the budgets
• Gaming account balance is $8500 with $400 in uncleared cheques
• For the gaming budget, everything is going smoothly.  Half of the grade 7 grad fund has been spent so far.  The library allocation hasn’t been used yet so will double check.  There are a few field trip claims remaining to be processed.
• General account balance is $57,300 with $3500 in uncleared cheques, majority for field trips. There is so $1800 in uncleared cheques for the sushi hot lunch this week.
• There are six classes that haven’t claimed anything in field trips, Jenna will reach out to teachers to remind them
• Only 30% of teachers have submitted supply expenses
• Do we want to allow teachers to roll over their expenses especially has everyone has been overwhelmed/busy with the move?
  • Nadine moves, Colleen seconds, all in favour
• Currently, teachers are provided with $350/division
• Jenna will email each teacher and copy Sara and Mike to remind them
• The resource teachers haven’t spent any of their amount, they have a budget of $400 as a department
• Gaming grant application is open with a deadline of June 30^th, we need a BCeID and are in the process of setting that up
• We will discuss next year’s budget at the June meeting

Administrator’s Report

• Mike wants to thank the PAC for their service to the school and school community and welcomes the new PAC and looks forward to working with everyone next year
• We are facing declining enrolment, currently we have 337 students, next year we will have 302 students. Covid might be affecting these numbers as births decreased during this.  We will be losing two divisions (one French and one English side).  Last year there were more than 30 kindergarten registrations, this years it has dropped down to 13 for both English and French .
• City centre in Richmond is exploding as schools such as Tomsett will have over 500 students next year, and Cook Elementary will be having 700 students next year.
• We will be saying bye to two of our staff members
• Most people applying for French immersion are choosing Homma and Anderson
• French immersion program are losing appeal district wide as it is tough to find TOC’s and teachers to teach French.  Eight students have applied to Dixon for French immersion.  Gilmore elementary also has a low enrollment for their French program.
• One of the appeals to Dixon was fun events and sports programs such as track & field
• Congratulations to Colleen O, as she will be a principal at Bridge next year. Mike will be principal/vice-principal due to being below the threshold enrollment numbers.
• Traffic – Mike has created a traffic plan and we will try to send it to families digitally and will stand outside to hand to drivers
• Grade 7 yearbook planning is underway – about two weeks until due date
• Grade 7 fun day planning has begun
• Grade 7 secondary school visits will take place on May 30^th
• Welcome to kindergarten handbooks have been created with the cover illustrating current kindergarten kids
• Seismic updates
  • The hallway near the library is phase 2 and teachers will be back in that part of the building in August
  • There will be coordination regarding the move from the portables to the classrooms and those currently in the annex will be packed up and into the portables before the start of the school year.
  • So far, everything is on track and moving along
  • Student washrooms are a high priority item and will be worked on during the summer
• Parent appreciation morning will take place at the end of the month and there will be muffins/coffees for parents
• Mike asks if we set PAC meeting dates in the spring or the fall? Can we include the PAC meeting dates in the list of dates sent to parents by admin?

Fundraising Update

• Colleen mentions hot lunch is this week – sushi
• Hot lunch team is wondering if they to take in gym renovations into consideration
  • It is confirmed that the gym won’t be closed until school year is completed and the kitchen will be back in September
• Hot lunch team will stay on for next year
  • Rose will be stepping down, but they can still function as a full team
• Movie nights are completed (raised $2700 this year which is more than last year)
• Charissa mentions that last movie night in May was lower attendance than normal but still a good event
• We are wanting to do four movie nights for next year. Lauren will be assisting Charissa next year with movie nights
• Movie licence we have now is good until December
• All of our fundraisers have brought in more money than budgeted
• Spirit wear has arrived and just need to coordinate distribution
• Shirts have been ordered for kindergarten kids and some of the kids in the affordability fund as well, only distribution remains
• Charissa asks if there was any feedback from the track meet
  • Mike said kids mostly have positive feedback, a lot of kids enjoyed trying the different sports and elimination of the competition aspect
  • However, parents said this is an athletic school and one parent asked about basketball and we didn’t have enough students to create a girl’s team, the boys/girls team were joined together
  • There were a few students that were visibly disappointed with the change but overall everyone had a good experience
  • The district seems to be wanting track and field like how we treat volleyball/basketball (extracurricular afterschool).  Extracurricular activites are harder to create now due to lack of support.  In the future, only students that are interested in going may be attending these zone meets.

Legacy projects

• Do we want to invest in some outdoor furniture/learning space?
• Jenna brings up the biodiversity project where an artist worked with a couple of classes and collaboration with City of Richmond
• Should PAC sponsor an artist to come on a yearly base ($12,000 - $15,000/year) and work with the students and students can make something that they are able to take home
• More to be discussed at following PAC meetings

Questions & Discussions

• Matthew gives an update on a D-PAC meeting.  It was an AGM meeting that turned political, with lots of concerns about the policies of D-PAC and gender identity. The D-PAC meetings are construction of school trustees and high school/elementary school representatives and takes place at the school board office.  One individual representative from each school can vote.

Adjourned 8:04pm